in president barack obama cybersecurity review among the things that were
underlined was the need to develop operational capabilities to fight and win
wars in cyberspace including cyber espionage attacks of this sort
web security experts and analysts interviewed by afp said it is almost
impossible to prove who is behind particular cyberattack and noted that
companies rarely come forward and admit that they have been targeted
we ve conducted three year research project on surveillance and one of the
things we ve learned is how absolutely very difficult it is to study said
colin maclay managing director of the berkman center for internet and society
at harvard university
anyone will tell you that with properly conducted surveillance you can catch
it maclay said you just don know
google did us favor by coming out of the closet said csis lewis most
companies won do it
only one other company adobe has acknowledged it was targeted in the attack
which google said originated from china and was an apparent bid for computer
source codes intellectual property and information about china human rights
activists around the world
while the probing of google computer systems was not unusual said citizen
lab deibert what was extraordinary was their public response
and the response they took was quite provocative he said of google decision
to no longer censor internet search results in china and threat to potentially
shut down their operations in the world largest online market
economy handcuffs obama after first year
washington jan afp
barack obama promised hope amid winter of american hardship when he took
office but one year on multiple crises endure and his ambitious presidency is
handcuffed by ruined economy
massive expectations greeted obama epochal inauguration as america first
black president on january but it did not take long for optimism to
fade as change proved hard to effect in such challenging times
obama has had major successes he seems likely to pass health care reform where
generations of presidents failed he embraced multilateral diplomacy and won
nobel prize and is on course to get combat troops out of iraq this year
but often obama most important achievements lay in what did not happen there
was no second great depression and the banking industry did not collapse
significant achievements but difficult to spin as political victories
early on memories of his unpopular predecessor george bush were fresh and
obama escaped blame for economic turmoil but now the buck stops with him
polls show obama public approval ratings tipping below percent watershed
which complicates moving the president agenda
multiple surveys have public satisfaction at obama economic management amid
percent unemployment at only around percent rotten political hand
ahead of mid term congressional elections in november
the white house with democratic control of congress in peril argues times
might be tough but relief is ahead republicans counter though that obama
policies are wrong and he is job killing president
am absolutely confident we re going to be able to look back at the end of
this year and say that things are getting better that we ve reignited
confidence in our economy in america obama said thursday
his top political strategist david axelrod admitted that the economy was
clouding the administration promise
you don have to be political genius to know that in that environment it
very hard to maintain very high poll numbers axelrod said
and so we re the governing party we didn create the mess that we re in but
we re the responsible party now and so that brings some heat down on us
no one thought obama stratospheric early polls numbers would endure but his
descent has been swift
he had nowhere to go but down said tom baldino professor of politics at
wilkes university pennsylvania
he inherited an unbelievable amount of problems some of which he could not
solve in six months or year
dante scala who teaches politics and the presidency at the university of new
hampshire added coming down to earth was inevitable given the bad economy
logic suggests that obama political position will only recover along with jobs
and prosperity
there has to be turn there the mid term elections coming up will not be good
for the president but he can salvage some of that if the economy turns
baldino said
few sweeping remedies are available to fight unemployment the budget deficit is
above trillion dollars and there is no appetite for repeat of obama
billion dollar stimulus bill
so small job creation programs aside obama can do little more than tell voters
he understands their plight
this is tough time for this country pain and anxiety and sometimes anger
felt by our friends and our constituents and our fellow americans obama said
thursday
obama faces similar challenge to ronald reagan who saw tough economic times
take his approval rating to below percent by mid
but reagan popularity rebounded along with the economy and he won reelection
by landslide in
if the economy improves and we do not get stuck in quagmire in afghanistan
public sentiment is likely to catch up with the former and lead to his
reelection in said thomas mann of the brookings institution
axelrod agreed think if the economy improves as believe it will over the
course of year that going to redound to our benefit
obama fate does not hinge on the economy alone thicket of domestic and
foreign policy challenges remain with revived fears of al qaeda airborne
terror and haiti earthquake disaster added to crowded plate
his measure as commander in chief will be also judged on his strong troop
surge to afghanistan where us casualties will likely rise this year
obama must also confront decision on tougher nuclear sanctions on iran and
will not meet his one year deadline to close guantanamo bay
un security council to discuss haiti crisis mexico
mexico city jan afp
the un security council will meet monday to discuss the coordination of the huge
international aid operation for quake hit haiti the mexican foreign ministry
announced saturday
mexico non permanent member of the member body launched the initiative
and the decision to discuss the matter early monday was made in coordination
with security council president china it said
the mexican government believes it is of the utmost importance that the un
security council contributes to aid efforts and supports the haitian
government the ministry said in statement
un secretary general ban ki moon who will tour haiti on sunday to witness the
destruction for himself was expected to participate in the meeting
football davies wants forest to learn lessons of narrow win
london jan afp
nottingham forest manager billy davies warned his promotion chasing players to
learn the lessons of their narrow win over reading
with leaders newcastle and third placed west bromwich albion meeting at st
james park on monday forest cemented second place in the championship by
defeating reading side who arrived at the city ground in buoyant mood after
their shock fa cup win over liverpool
paul anderson and robert earnshaw put the hosts two goals ahead before forest
goalkeeper lee camp saved brian howard th minute penalty in an incident that
saw forest defender nicky shorey sent off
substitute jimmy kebe scored deep into injury time but it wasn enough to stop
forest moving within two points of newcastle and four points clear of albion
but davies said we could have had four or five goals in the first half but
only scored twice and that gave reading the opportunity to come back at us
if we had scored third goal as we should it would have been totally
different type of game in the second half and it lesson for us to learn
we ve games left to play and this very good young side we have here has got
to show they are capable of playing under the pressure of being top eight
side
darren ferguson suffered losing start to his reign as preston boss as bristol
city claimed victory at ashton gate
ferguson son of manchester united manager sir alex said you can start
games like that but minutes is not going to change my opinion and believe
ve inherited sound squad who are just bit low on belief at the moment
we had good build up to this game and thought the players had taken lot
on board but you have to transmit that into matches and it didn happen
sheffield wednesday new manager alan irvine ended his new side three month
wait for victory with success at barnsley in his first game but refused
to get carried away
irvine installed as brian laws successor after being sacked by preston saw
tommy spurr give his side third minute lead
emil hallfredsson levelled for barnsley four minutes later but jermaine johnson
struck in the st minute to give wednesday their first win in league
matches
irvine said it was great performance but it only start the players have
been as would expect it the honeymoon period
but if they feel as if that it and everything going to be ok from now then
we ll end up having problems
they ve set the benchmark in terms of how they need to go about games and it
up to us to make sure we don fall below those levels of commitment and
determination
qpr caretaker manager mick harford taking charge after paul hart reign ended
after just days saw his side earn battling draw against blackpool and
then called for calm at loftus road
harford who is the ninth man to take charge of rangers during chairman flavio
briatore reign said think what this club needs after difficult time is
period of stability
the board has asked me to take charge of the first team and shall continue to
do that
elsewhere doncaster beat watford crystal palace won at plymouth
ipswich defeated coventry and derby won at peterborough
swansea saw off leicester sheffield united beat middlesbrough and
cardiff drew at scunthorpe
clinton vows us will stand by haiti
port au prince jan afp
the united states vowed saturday to stand by the devastated nation of haiti as
secretary of state hillary clinton flew in seeking to overcome the hurdles
bogging down vast aid operation
clinton who arrived in the devastated capital port au prince aboard us coast
guard plane shortly before gmt was the highest ranking us official to
visit the caribbean nation since tuesday deadly magnitude quake
we are here at the invitation of your government to help you she told press
conference after talks with us officials organizing the relief operation and an
hour long meeting with president rene preval
as president barack obama has said we will be here today tomorrow and for
the time ahead she pledged
know the resilience and strength of the haitian people you have been
severely tested clinton said but believe that haiti can come back stronger
and better in the future
preval who said he had just visited man pulled out of the rubble alive after
four days by american rescuers said clinton visit warmed our hearts
but it also chance for us to restate priorities and to ensure coordination
with the american government and with the international community
the two countries were to unveil statement on sunday on how they planned to
cooperate together
anger was building at haiti us controlled main airport where aid flights were
still being turned away and poor coordination continued to hamper the relief
effort
but tons and tons of badly needed aid was finally getting to some of those left
destitute in port au prince and even to at least one devastated town beyond the
capital
clinton said criticism that aid was piling up at the airport was unfair saying
us forces in charge of the airport were getting it out as quickly as possible
she and rajiv shah director for the usaid us agency for international
development usaid said the un world food programme had begun setting up food
and water distribution centers at points across the capital we re looking
to expand that shah said
shah said he understood some distribution points were already working roads had
been cleared and the us military is prepared to provide security at these sites
as well as transport supplies to them
clinton stressed the brazil led un force deployed for years in the
country with wide knowledge and local informants was responsible for overall
security
we are working to back them up but not to supplant them she said
the us military was also trying to establish helicopter landing zones for some
aid deliveries but had to drop the plan when it realized haitians would mob the
site each time and make it dangerous to land she said
aid would also be shipped aid outside the capital as haitians were beginning to
trickle out to the less damaged areas of the country she said
the other thing we re trying to do is get our helicopters outside the
immediately affected area outside of port au prince because people are leaving
the city clinton said
they are seeking medical help they are trying to get to relatives she added
the countryside is relatively unaffected we re trying to get ahead of the
curve here
the us operation has been officially dubbed operation unified response
general douglas fraser head of the us southern command said on the command
official page on micro blogging website twitter
clinton said state department officials had asked the us military whether
supplies could be parachuted to haitians but heard they won do that they
don think that good idea it too dangerous
you can do that in rural areas in urban areas it causes riots and causes
injuries to people she said noting that packages could fall on crowds
philip crowley clinton spokesman said there were hopes to make the northern
city of cap haitien operational as second container port but he gave no
details
clinton later left haiti taking with her us citizens who had been living in
haiti some of them to jamaica and others to the united states officials said
football mancini won write off robinho despite latest flop
liverpool england jan afp
roberto mancini is adamant robinho still has future at manchester city despite
hauling off the brazil star soon after sending him on as substitute in the
defeat at everton
mancini has only started robinho once in his five matches since replacing mark
hughes as city manager and is clearly struggling to find way to motivate the
under performing former real madrid forward
robinho who cost city club record million pounds was at his lacklustre
worst after coming on as first half replacement for roque santa cruz at
goodison park on saturday and mancini showed his disgust by taking him off soon
after the interval
mancini hardline stance failed to spark city into life and they lost for the
first time under the former inter milan coach dropping out of the premier
league top four in the process
but mancini won write off robinho for good and insisted the attacking options
at his disposal mean he would always be willing to rotate the team at the
expense of even his biggest stars
had craig bellamy benjani mwaruwari carlos tevez robinho all
strikers so decided to take one off mancini said needed different
kind of player
is it the end of the line for robinho no he is good player like everyone
in the squad he needs to work hard and play well
first half goals from south african midfielder steven pienaar and french striker
louis saha who converted penalty gave everton deserved victory and dented
city hopes of clinching champions league place
mancini admits city need time to adapt to his tactics but he may make move in
the transfer market before the window shuts on february
am not magician am manager and do not think can change the
situation in month he said but believe we can improve game after game
that is possible it is long season
pienaar made the breakthrough in the th minute with free kick from yards
that evaded shay given at the goalkeeper near post
everton stepped up the pace and saha extended their lead in first half stoppage
time with his th goal of productive season
he coolly slotted home penalty after having his shirt tugged outside and
inside the box by micah richards
everton manager david moyes could not hide his delight at securing the three
points after accusing city in his programme notes of breaking the rules and
having no class in their pursuit of joleon lescott
the england defender moved to eastlands in august following protracted
transfer but sat out the match because of knee injury
moyes said think you enjoy wins when you feel you have not been treated
right will do that but it has all gone now and will try and move on
think this performance has been coming it is getting back to the standard we
want to see
we have started getting one or two players back there is bit more confidence
now and bit of competition for places
football benitez takes heart from liverpool display
stoke on trent england jan afp
rafael benitez has insisted liverpool can recover from their mid season crisis
despite suffering another setback in frustrating draw at stoke
the under pressure reds boss was infuriated by referee lee mason failure to
award what he claimed were two certain penalties in the draw at the
britannia stadium
but he insisted the performance of his injury ravaged squad represented
positive reaction after their fa cup defeat to championship strugglers reading
last minute equaliser from robert huth earned stoke their point after greek
defender sotirios kyrgiakos had given liverpool the lead early in the second
half after thomas sorenson fumbled fabio aurelio free kick
the match might have evolved differently if mason had not failed to award what
television replays indicated was clear penalty for danny higginbotham foul
on lucas leiva in the first half the official opting instead to book the
brazilian midfielder for diving
benitez felt second foul on lucas by higginbotham late in the game seconds
before dirk kuyt hit the post with header the post should also have resulted
in penalty
but he nevertheless maintained that liverpool will head into wednesday night
pivotal premier league game with tottenham one of their direct rivals for top
four finish and place in next season champions league with renewed
optimism
he said we should have had two penalties they were very clear to me
for me they were both penalties and it was the wrong decision we have to be
very disappointed we can see the two incidents on the replays times and you
would still have the same opinion as everyone in the stadium
but we have to move on and be ready for the next challenge and hopefully play
as well as we did here
it is difficult to take because for minutes we were winning one point could
have been three so we have lost two
we showed the right character we had players out with injury but the players
here worked hard against very difficult team
it was physical game in football some things go against you and you have
problems but we have to keep going really pleased it is something we can
build on
benitez also dismissed suggestions that some of his leading players had lost
confidence in his ability to lead liverpool to success
talk of problems in the dressing room are not true he said you could see
the response from the players is someone saying there is problem with steven
gerrard not true he was here today supporting the team that says everything
stoke boss tony pulis dismissed benitez complaints about the penalty
decisions
you can look at all sorts of decisions he said did not think it was
free kick before they scored and probably goalkeeper thomas sorensen will have
to take the blame for conceding poor goal
but we got up fair momentum in the end and felt we deserved the draw
certainly did not think that there was anything wrong with liverpool
performance their commitment and attitude was spot on they had real go
can understand where rafa is coming from in complaining about the penalty
decisions but you do that when you are on one side of the fence would do the
same but these things are just part of the game
diana legacy hangs over prince william australia tour
redfern jan afp
britain prince william has his mother heart and his visit this week to
sydney most infamous aboriginal neighbourhood could open up new ties with
indigenous people community leaders said
the young prince will tour the block collection of near derelict terrace
houses in sydney inner city redfern with common language of drugs
disadvantage and crime as part of his tour to australia and new zealand
aboriginal people in redfern meeting royalty it blessing elder michael
mundine told afp ahead of tuesday visit
william last visited australia as nine month old baby in with his
parents prince charles and the late princess diana who was killed in car
crash in paris in
he has his mother heart and think lot of people will respect him because
of this mother said mundine
from his first floor office window overlooking the block mundine can see
group of men some clearly under the influence one throws bottle at two young
children in his way
mundine said some radicals within the indigenous community might question why he
would want to shake william hand given the injustices his people have suffered
since british penal colony was established in australia in
but that the past he said we re paving the way for the new generation
ll just show him all the respect can he the prince now but he could be
the king he coming to the block we are not going to hide nothing
indigenous social justice campaigner tom calma said it was important that
visiting dignitaries such as william who will also tour bushfire ravaged areas
outside of melbourne were allowed to see the real australia
it not good enough that they get sanitised version of our history or
sanitised version of our lifestyle here said calma the country aboriginal
and torres strait islander social justice commissioner
it the old warts and all we need to be able to show it as it is
william who will be in australia from january to will also be asked to
help return the remains of aborigines including skulls and bones often taken
as curiosities and which now lie in foreign museums
we re saying it time to help us heal and return our remains rob welsh of
the redfern based metropolitan aboriginal land council told afp
of particular importance is the head of the great aboriginal warrior pemulwuy
who fought against the british occupation and was ultimately shot dead on the
governor orders in his head is believed to have been sent by ship to
england shortly afterwards but its location is unknown
welsh among those who will meet the prince on tuesday said he was overwhelmed
by the prospect of meeting royal despite the past conflicts between
indigenous australians and their former colonial rulers
he definitely one of the stand out royals him and harry and was very
impressed for him to offer to come to redfern he said
welsh said while some differences would remain we ve got to move forward
we can judge william on what his grandparents have done and so on and he
seems like the prince that is ready to come out and listen to the community
listen to the people he said
he already lined up for disneyland with his mother as child he gone down
and slept out at night on freezing cold nights
asked whether william would be bringing his mother legacy to redfern welsh
said the young royal does fill that gap for us
lani tuitavake who has lived and worked in the block for years said the
visit was chance to showcase the improvements that have come to the
neighbourhood through the hard work of the past decade
some of the worst terraces have been demolished efforts have been made to stop
the sale of drugs and there are plans known as the pemulwuy project to
redevelop the area to build quality housing for indigenous families
to the community and to me it highlights the change she said scotland
yard they are not going to put their precious prince and future king in
harm way
football united face berbatov surgery dilemma
manchester england jan afp
manchester united manager sir alex ferguson will on monday make decision on
whether dimitar berbatov scorer in the win over burnley requires knee
surgery
the bulgarian striker has been struggling for number of weeks with the injury
and united had hoped he would be able to play through the discomfort but he was
bothered by his knee once again despite going on to score in united victory at
old trafford on saturday
ferguson took him off in the closing stages and will now consider whether he
needs an operation
he said dimitar was feeling his knee again we ll look at it on monday and
we ll see about surgery he could have come off at half time but he wanted to
stay on again and that good
let hope the goal does dimitar some good thought he was the one that
looked like scoring and it was one of those days when he kept knocking it past
the post or over the bar
he had so many attempts he must have had about attempts and he ll be
relieved to get his goal
ferguson feels that the return of edwin van der sar could be key point in
united season
the dutch goalkeeper has been missing since early november due to injury and was
then given compassionate leave after his wife annmarie suffered brain
haemorrhage
but he kept clean sheet on his return to the team and ferguson expects him to
make significant difference
he added he was magnificent against burnley unbelievable what performance
steady decision making use of the ball
tomasz kuszczak has done fantastically well and it no slight on him but
edwin made difference simply because he years of age he got caps
he got that experience he won two european medals
he had fantastic career and it showed again
ferguson has also been impressed by the contribution of senegalese striker mame
biram diouf who joined the club from norwegian club fc molde
after berbatov and wayne rooney gave united two goal lead the new signing
scored his first goal in english football in the closing stages against burnley
and ferguson feels that diouf is real prospect
he said he got great spring the boy he quick and he looks to run behind
them the defenders all the time and he very good in the air
he got lot of good attributes we can use we re excited about the boy
ferguson has also confirmed that he intends to make string of changes for
tuesday league cup semi final first leg at manchester city
he added we ll have look at it on sunday and look at the best way to go
about the game and some of the younger players will come in darron gibson will
play part and young rafael and fabio are players who deserve chance
new burnley manager brian laws confirmed he hopes to keep on loan portsmouth
striker david nugent at turf moor
laws who took over from owen coyle last week also revealed that steven
fletcher who limped off with an ankle problem was taken to hospital for
rays
he said he had kick on the ankle and has gone to hospital for an ray
nugent was excellent and we will try ever so hard to secure his services
negotiations with portsmouth are underway we know he can go anywhere else
on loan he can stay with us or they sell him that is the simple equation
laws added my ambition is to stay in the premier league we knew coming to old
trafford wouldn do that this is not the game that makes the difference
the games that matter are playing the teams around us if we don take points
off them those teams will overtake you
we have identified the games to take points from and win man united was
bonus if we had got anything out of it the bonus is that in my first game in
charge there were more plusses than minuses
football chelsea make light of drogba absence
london jan afp
carlo ancelotti believes nicolas anelka has shown he can cover for the loss of
didier drogba following the striker two goal display in the thrashing of
sunderland
drogba is on international duty with ivory coast at the africa cup of nations
leaving anelka as the club senior striker during january
anelka display against hapless sunderland suggested he is ready to rise to
the challenge as chelsea took their tally to goals in two games without their
four strong contingent of african players
ancelotti said we played lot of times without didier and nicolas did very
well in the past and also he did very well today nicolas is fantastic
striker he is top striker and we are very happy to have him in our squad
midfielders michael essien and john obi mikel are in angola along with drogba
ivory coast team mate salomon kalou but ancelotti is satisfied he has sufficient
strength in his squad to compensate for their absence
think that was maybe the best performance this season we played very well
until the end of the match he said
we started the game very well very happy because it an important time
for us without the african players we maybe could have some problems always
said have fantastic squad and today other players played very well think
for us it is good moment for us
think these are important matches for us because think we can also play
without the african players
we missed important players because didier is an important player for us also
the others have fantastic squad and in this period will use other
players
the result against sunderland will inevitably be seen as significant in the
context of the premier league title race but ancelotti insisted his only concern
is his own team form and not that of his rivals
we don want to send message to the other teams he added think this
performance for us is very good because it improves our motivation and improves
our determination to do better if possible
chelsea victory was so comfortable ancelotti was able to withdraw ashley cole
and john terry at half time
cole picked up an ankle knock scoring his side third goal while terry was
rested ahead of gruelling schedule of games
maybe the best goal was ashley goal said ancelotti fantastic movement
fantastic dribbling and fantastic goal then he had problem with his ankle
so we took him off for precaution
john doesn have big problem it was precaution because we didn need
him it will be no problem for the next match
sunderland manager steve bruce is hopeful his lengthy injury list will be
reduced ahead of their next game the fa cup meeting with portsmouth
he said we hope that we ve got four or five back next week and that will give
everyone lift and boost because it been struggle over the last six weeks
to be without eight nine of your first team players we hope we get few
back and that will give everyone lift
and the manager refused to rule out move into the january transfer market
he added the one thing not going to do is panic over the hiding we ve
got at chelsea they can do that to lot of teams if there is anybody
available we ll have look at it but can envisage me being ultra busy
